Not that I know of, and I'm actually surprised people use them given how much easier it is to use a database (and believe me, I know 'cos I built one of my first sites using that method and then quickly moved over to DB when the data started to mount up causing errors!)

Well, since MySQL is free, it's hard for a hosting company to justify not using it. I'd move if I were you. The advantages far far far outweigh any possible disadvantage. I personally don't see any disadvantages. MySQL is faster, more robust, user friendly, powerful, etc etc etc!

My best tip would be to use a templating class! However, for a newbie the best thing is to open the table before the loop, on each loop generate a row, and then close the table after the loop has ended, like this: